Re: Ford embraces Six Sigma

[SOPKrules@aol.com]

Linda:

While it is true that Dr. Deming did touch some of us in our heart of hearts, there are many things that are missing from his philosophy that would help to closer tie the ideas to the real practice of life.

For example, the way Dr. Deming looked at processes or systems was very mechanical.  People appears in the maps he drew as things.  The flow through the business is more about the flow of materiel and information than it is about the flow of commitments.  Dr. Deming did not possess the distinctions to look at process from the standpoint of the coordination of commitments.  He idea to view the business as a system is profound and it can be enhance by adding a scientific way to look at the flow of human commitment processes as part of the system.

Dr. Deming's legacy, in my view, is more about what we can now do to extend his philosophy in practice than it is about how right he is or was.

Bob

ps.  Six Sigma does have commitment running through it